Construction of the Kamal Khan Dam on Helmand River now near completion will profoundly affect water supply to Iranian wetlands and aggravate environmental problems in east and southeastern Iran, Iran's former ambassador to Afghanistan said.
“The government in Kabul has completed the second phase of Kajaki Dam, the largest of its kind in Afghanistan. It is planning to build Bakshabad Dam on Farah River, another joint basin,” Abolfazl Zohrevand was quoted as saying by ILNA.
After completion, Kamal Khan Dam will divert large quantities of water into Afghan farmlands (mostly to plant poppies) instead of the river delta’s wetlands where Helmand ends.
Prior to construction of the dams on Helmand River, nine billion cubic meters of water flowed annually into Hamoun Wetlands in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province. That has now declined to less than 800 mcm per annum, he said.
“Afghan activities in the Helmand River basin should be compatible with river discharge, respect Iran’s rights and principles of environmental sustainability – issues that so far have been overlooked.”
According to the former diplomat, there are at least 3 million Afghan refugees in Iran. If each one of them consumed one cubic meter of water a day that would amount to 1 bcm a year and more than Iran’s present water share from Helmand (if allocated).
Over 70% of the southeastern Hamoun Wetlands in Sistan-Baluchestan is drying up largely because of Afghanistan's controversial dam construction on its tributaries.
Water from the Helmand River in principle is shared under a 1973 treaty, which assigned Iran 800 million cubic meters of water a year. But with Afghanistan embroiled in foreign military invasions, domestic violence of terror syndicates, political infighting and civil strife for the past 40 years the water supply has remained wildly erratic.
Iran hardly receives floodwater for about three months in a year. “After this flow we still need water and they [Afghanistan] won’t supply it. Construction on the Helmand Basin, whether in Afghanistan or Iran, must consider ecological capability, environmental resilience and sustainable development.”
Zohrevand stressed that the Afghans will not be doing Iran any favor. “We are not compelling them to give us water [that belongs to them]. They simply have to honor the water sharing agreement and seek our consent to prevent environmental damage caused by their dams.”
One-Sided Development
Iran and Afghanistan should establish an open and active communication link for effective cooperation over water issues, he added. “Unilateral development, by both sides could further aggravate the relationship.”
Based on international water laws “Afghanistan should not deprive Iranian wetlands of water as it a vital resource for the local population including residents in the provincial capital Zahedan.”
Depriving Iran of its water rights from Helmand can make things worse for the already water-stressed regions and turn the wetlands into barren desert.
Helmand River — the longest watercourse in Afghanistan — rises in the Hindu Kush mountains west of Kabul and empties into the Hamoun wetlands that straddle the border between the two countries, seeping into the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan and Afghanistan's Nimruz and Farah provinces.
Afghan officials, namely Naseer Ahmad Durrani, deputy minister for agriculture, irrigation and livestock, claim that they want to resolve the dispute with Iran, but there are some security issues. “Our country is under tremendous stress and Iran must understand,” he has said.
Iran’s former spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, Bahram Qassemi, believes linking the water issue with Afghanistan’s internal affairs is irrelevant and has no rational basis.
